Firebomber Publications Blog

Wildfire News Of The Day (the Firebomber Publications blog) provides comprehensive international wildfire news. Subscribers include over 10,000 personnel from fire agencies, contractors, and government entities on five continents. "BEST NEWSLETTER I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY 32 YEARS IN THE FIRE SERVICE" - San Diego Fire Department Chief Brian Fennessy.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

WILDFIRE NEWS OF THE DAY - 122811

The impact of the 2011 wildfires on New Mexico is examined in our first item today (1). Cherokee County, Texas, looks back on a year of wildfires (2); while the next article laments the loss of so many trees across the state (3); and although many Texans are looking forward to 2012, some are still traumatized by the wildfires of 2011 (4); but Abilene Regional Airport reaped a windfall, primarily due to 2,800 Texas Forest Service personnel processing through the facility (5). Dry conditions and a 750-acre wildfire in Minnesota's Hangaard State Wildlife Management Area have prompted fire warnings in that state (6). Pender County, North Carolina, looks back on the massive wildfire which burned 49 mi.² in a nature reserve this year (7); while North Myrtle Beach Fire and Rescue Division will be getting a $3,500 windfall from South Carolina Forestry Commission to help purchase equipment for battling wildfires (8). Florida Department of Agriculture offered 10 tips on how better to dispose of a Christmas tree without sparking a wildfire (9). A wildfire in Chile's Última Esperanza province prompted the Provincial Committee on Emergency Operations to bolster firefighting efforts there (10); and Wildfire NOTD subscriber Chuck Bushey, President of the International Association of Wildland Fire, sent along a link to a new book on soil erosion following wildfires in Spain (11). The war of words over wildfires set by Turkish agents in Greece in the 1990s is heating up, with the Greek Foreign Ministry asking for a response from the Turkish government to their inquiries (12); some in the government arguing that Greece should be compensated for their losses (13). A 100-acre wildfire is still burning in the Paro Valley in the Himalayan nation of Bhutan (14). In Australia, firefighters continued to grapple with a bushfire north of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, which was threatening an Aborigine settlement (15); even as Fire and Emergency Services Authority battled several bushfires in Western Australia, where temperatures continued to climb (16); while fire authorities are considering constructing a state-of-the-art fire refuge in Prevelly or Gnarabup (17). And finally, we have a bizarre tale from Washington state where House Bill 2141 would require volunteer firefighters to pay to be a volunteer!